USA to Australia
Pet Shipping from the USA to Australia
We provide international pet transport from the USA to Australia, planned around its import rules, the season and your move date.
Book door-to-door pet relocation, or only the parts you need.
- Airline booking
- The travel crate
- The export paperwork and the Australian import permit
- Check-in at your US airport
- Collection from quarantine with delivery to your new address
Australia at a glance
Full requirementsAustralia’s agriculture department wants a cat or dog to arrive with a valid biosecurity import permit and says to allow at least 6 months for the steps; from the United States, APHIS adds that export can come no sooner than 180 days after the blood sample reaches the laboratory.
- Microchip
- ISO compliant, in place before the process starts and scanned at every vet visit. Numbers starting 999 are not accepted
- Rabies vaccination
- Given at 84 days old or older, and valid without a break from the blood test to departure
- Identity verification
- Optional. Two USDA accredited veterinarians at different clinics, then APHIS, all before the blood test. It lowers the quarantine minimum from 30 days to 10
- Rabies titer (RNATT)
- Run as FAVN or RFFIT, and the reading has to be 0.5 IU/ml or above. Valid for 12 months from the blood draw
- Waiting period
- 180 days from the date the approved laboratory receives the sample
Pet Shipping from the USA to Australia
Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry publishes a step-by-step guide for dogs and another for cats, and APHIS tells US owners to follow them. The order matters: the microchip goes in before anything else, an optional identity check precedes the rabies blood test, and the 180 day wait runs from the day the laboratory receives that sample, not from the day you book.
Which route does a pet take into Australia?
Into Melbourne International Airport, as manifested cargo. The department’s guide for dogs says a dog has to fly there directly and never in the cabin, and it does not permit a domestic transfer, such as landing in Sydney and flying on to Melbourne. A biosecurity officer collects the pet on arrival and takes it to the Mickleham post entry quarantine facility. Any airline may carry it at its own discretion, and a change of aircraft on the way has to happen in an approved country, on the international side of the airport. The flight, a travel crate and your pet’s check-in with the airline in the United States can each be booked alone.
Route details: USA to Australia
- Route
- USA to Australia
- Import permit
- An Australian import permit: its number goes on the APHIS health certificate, which certifies the pet meets its pre-export conditions
- Health certificate
- APHIS Group 3 dog or cat form in VEHCS by a USDA-accredited vet, final exam and chip scan within 5 days of export; USDA endorses it
- Quarantine on arrival
- Post-entry quarantine of at least 30 days, or 10 days with the optional identity check done before the titer blood draw (APHIS)
- Rabies titer
- FAVN or RFFIT result of at least 0.5 IU/mL, on an RNATT Declaration a USDA APHIS vet endorses; last rabies shot at 84 days or older
- Time to get ready
- At least 180 days: APHIS allows export only 180 days or more after the rabies blood sample reaches the laboratory
Work out your pet’s dates for this route
From official sources, read October 29, 2026: USDA APHIS, Veterinary Health Certificate for Export of Dogs from the United States of America to Australia, PDF; USDA APHIS, Veterinary Health Certificate for Export of Cats from the United States of America to Australia, PDF; USDA APHIS, Identification Declaration for USDA Accredited Veterinarians, PDF; USDA APHIS, Guidance for dogs and cats traveling from other countries via the United States to Australia, PDF; USDA APHIS, Pet Travel From the United States to Australia; USDA APHIS, Rabies Neutralising Antibody Titre Test Declaration, PDF.
Biosecurity Inspections and Quarantine Requirements
Which pets can enter Australia?
A dog or cat that has lived in an approved country for at least 180 days by the day it leaves, counted from the day its rabies blood sample reaches the laboratory. The department’s Group 3 list includes the United States except Hawaii and Guam, which follow a different guide. Australia’s customs and environment laws, not its biosecurity law, bar five dog breeds, the dogo Argentino, the fila Brasileiro, the Japanese tosa, the American pit bull terrier or pit bull terrier and the Perro de Presa Canario, along with four wolfdog hybrids. A dog more than 30 days pregnant, or nursing puppies, cannot be exported.
A pet that is let in then serves a stay at Mickleham, set out next, and our full guide to Australian pet quarantine walks through what those days look like.
The stay lasts 30 days at the minimum, or 10 if the pet’s identity was verified before its rabies blood test. From the United States that check is optional: two USDA accredited veterinarians at different clinics each scan the chip and photograph the pet with the scanner’s reading in the frame, and APHIS then completes a third declaration, endorsed within 3 months of the first scan and emailed to Australia by APHIS itself. A pet whose papers fall short of its permit conditions can be held longer, tested again, exported or euthanized, at the owner’s cost, the department says.
What vet work and documents does a pet need for Australia?
From the United States, in this order: an ISO compliant microchip, a rabies vaccination given at 84 days old or older, the optional identity check, and the titer test, whose reading, 0.5 IU/ml or above to pass, goes on a declaration APHIS endorses. The import permit comes next. For a dog the department then asks for a canine influenza vaccination completed at least 14 days before the flight. Within 45 days of export come tests for Leishmania, for Brucella canis in a dog that is not desexed, and for leptospirosis in one not vaccinated against it. A flea and tick product has to be applied from at least 30 days out. The dog is also wormed twice, the second time in the final 5 days. The final vet check and the APHIS endorsement of the health certificate come last, both within 5 days of export.
We schedule every step with margin so one missed date does not restart the clock.
| Requirement | Australia, from the United States |
|---|---|
| Microchip | ISO compliant, in place before the process starts and scanned at every vet visit. Numbers starting 999 are not accepted |
| Rabies vaccination | Given at 84 days old or older, and valid without a break from the blood test to departure |
| Identity verification | Optional. Two USDA accredited veterinarians at different clinics, then APHIS, all before the blood test. It lowers the quarantine minimum from 30 days to 10 |
| Rabies titer (RNATT) | Run as FAVN or RFFIT, and the reading has to be 0.5 IU/ml or above. Valid for 12 months from the blood draw |
| Waiting period | 180 days from the date the approved laboratory receives the sample |
| Import permit | Applied for in BICON with the endorsed titer declaration and the lab report. The department says “Most permits are issued in 20-40 business days,” and up to 123 in some cases |
| Health certificate | The form in VEHCS for pets from the US states, not the one printed in the permit, endorsed within 5 days of export |
| Dogs only | Canine influenza vaccination, a leptospirosis vaccine or test, Leishmania screening and, unless desexed, Brucella canis |
| Quarantine | At Mickleham: 30 days minimum, or 10 with the identity check |
| Realistic lead time | At least 6 months, the department says |
Planning Timeline for Pet Shipping to Australia
The department says to allow at least 6 months, and its guide gives the 180 day wait no exceptions. The blood test that starts it comes 3 to 4 weeks after a first rabies vaccination, sooner for a dog vaccinated regularly, and the permit is applied for once the titer declaration is endorsed. Quarantine can be booked after the permit is issued. A dog’s tests and treatments fall in the 45 days before the flight, and the final check and the endorsement in the last 5.
Planning the budget? See what shipping a pet from the USA to Australia costs, fee by fee.
Every Pet Travels
Differently
Different destinations, different routes, different challenges.
Because timelines, airline rules, and Australia’s requirements can vary, we build a plan that fits your pet and your move date.
Destination-Focused Planning
We use Australia’s official import guidance as the baseline, then turn it into a simple checklist and timeline you can follow.
Smart Routing and Logistics
We help choose practical routes, travel windows, and handoff procedures so your pet’s trip is safer and more predictable.
Personalized Support
Pet Travel Advisors assigns a move coordinator who keeps you updated and checks details before travel so nothing important is missed.
Questions about moving a pet to Australia
Request a QuoteHow much does it cost to move a pet to Australia?
Beside the flight and the crate, the Australian government bills for the import permit and for quarantine at Mickleham, priced by the day on top of fixed fees, so the 30 day minimum and the 10 day one cost different amounts. APHIS charges for each document it endorses. We price the whole journey up front, government fees included.
For the itemized breakdown, with every government fee linked to the authority that publishes it, see our cost to ship a pet from the USA to Australia.
What crate is required for flying a pet to Australia?
The department’s guide asks for a crate built to IATA’s container requirements, with the pet traveling as manifested cargo. Nothing may ride in it, toys and medication included, because the department destroys such items as biosecurity waste on arrival. Our crate size calculator works out the smallest inside dimensions from your pet’s measurements, and a travel crate is one of the parts you can book with us.
What are the most common reasons pets are delayed?
The department’s guide names the slips that send a pet back to the start. A titer result under 0.5 IU/ml means vaccinating again, a new sample and a new 180 day wait from its arrival at the laboratory, and so does a rabies vaccination that lapses before export or a titer result more than 12 months old on the day the pet leaves. A microchip that cannot be read, or a number that differs from the documents, stops the import, and the department does not accept a lab report corrected afterward. The permit alone can take up to 123 business days.
How can Pet Travel Advisors help with USA to Australia moves?
Any part of it can be booked on its own: a vet schedule planned in the department’s order, with the declarations and health certificate drawn up and reviewed ahead of each APHIS endorsement, the flight into Melbourne, a travel crate, your pet’s check-in with the airline, and collection when Mickleham releases it and delivery on to your new home. Booked as a set, they are a door-to-door move.
Ready to start?
Book door-to-door pet relocation, or only the parts you need.